Currently
by Aya Brea X
Summary: A differnet version of what happens after Ed and Envy part at the beginning of book 4 in the manga. Envy comes back to get Ed! EnvyxEd.


A/N: Slightly AU? I donno. This is the second version of what happens in book 4 after Ed and Envy meet up at the prision in the manga. It doesn't really make sense from the anime... Aoh.  
  
Yesh! Envy x Edo goodness! Please steer away if you don't like shounen- ai. I don't know how yaoi this will get. I'm really not that good at writing the yaoi. O.- Anyone want to teach me? Ho ho ho. fagirl laughter  
  
This was previously posted on the fmalchemist Live Journal community. I've condensed the first three chapters (first two being previously posted on the LJ community, the third one is new) and made it into one big chapter.  
  
Enjoy! ---------------------  
  
Currently By Aya Brea X Chapter 1: No Match!  
  
Ed glared with an annoyed expression at the flower pot directly across the room from his hospital bed. Pretty much everything annoyed him at the moment: the overly comfortable bed, the much too clean white bed sheets, the lazy moments of the curtains in rhythm with the wind, and let's not forget the offensively plain white flower pot which was currently getting the wrath of his stare.  
  
Everything was too safe, too clean, and much too neat. Not that he didn't appreciate order, but when he was confined to his room for most of his waking hours (the on-call nurse didn't appreciate him splitting the wound on his abdomen open every five minutes) even good things annoyed him.  
  
With a huff, he leaned back onto his pillow, convinced he was not wrong to be in a cloudy mood. After all, hadn't he—just days ago—almost been killed? Of course, the Lieutenant Colonel pointed out—to everyone's agreement—that it was his own fault for going to that abandoned research facility in the first place. "Feh," Ed thought, "What did he know? No way am I going to be told when I need to be protected..." The young alchemist trailed off, thinking the irony of the situation in which he was now settled. "Damn." He cursed, closing his eyes.  
  
Immediately the face of the one who put in him the recovery ward popped into his head, almost prompting Ed to open his eyes. He forced himself to keep his eyes closed, to study the features of the stupid boy who hit him when he was down, trying to see any details he might have missed about his identity.  
  
Ed didn't like to leave things alone; he was proactive to a fault. Being stuck in this room, the only investigation he could do on the case was to go over the events in his own head.  
  
"Meditating? Or just napping?"  
  
Ed snapped out of his own thoughts and saw the person from his recollection standing directly across from his bed. His dark outfit and long raven spikes contrasted with the dull white of the room, setting off Ed's doubts at if the sight was even real.  
  
"You're looking at me the same way again, Edo-chan." The young man perked up, laughing at his own play on Ed's name.  
  
Ed furrowed his brows, calculating his own disadvantage. Winry had yet to arrive to fix his arm, so he could not use alchemy or even fight properly in hand to hand combat; that is of course, assuming he doesn't split his wounds again in the attempt.  
  
"I've come to pick you up."  
  
"Who are you?!" Ed demanded, his vision shaking as the other young man turned and approached the side of the bed. Think, Ed, think! He screamed at himself.  
  
"Oh." The young man stopped on his tracks, surprising Ed in how much he acted like a child. "I haven't properly introduced myself, have I?" He smiled. "You can call me Envy." He reached out with his right hand to shake Ed's, but the young state alchemist simply stared at Envy, annoyed that for one, this enemy wanted to shake hands, and two, his right arm was still useless.  
  
"Eh?!" Envy's eye went wide in surprise. "Is your right arm still useless?!"  
  
Veins popped into view on Ed's head. Even though he often dished out plenty of his own, Envy's tactless conversation was on its way to driving Ed into a screaming fit. His anger was all but forgotten, however, when Envy grabbed Ed's right hand and began shaking it vigorously. "Nice to meet you, too, Edo-chan!"  
  
"Wh-WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Ed screamed, pulling his arm back by moving his entire body backwards. Ed huffed angrily. "You freak with a bad hairdo, what do you want?"  
  
"It's not nice to be so mean, Edo." Envy feigned hurt, pulling back momentarily. "Especially since we'll be traveling together for a while!"  
  
"Eh?" Ed blinked dumbly, before the full weight of Envy's statement hit him. He dodged Envy's blow, pushing himself into a summersault off the bed with his good arm. Words useless now, Ed looked at the previously too- plain room for something to aid in his escape.  
  
He felt the wall behind him tremble, and leapt out of the way just as the plaster collapsed behind him. Unfortunately for him, Envy took this opportunity to grab his good arm, twisting it behind his back and holding the boy in a full nelson.  
  
"Really, Envy," The woman Ed saw at the abandoned factory emerged from the dust cloud. "I thought you could handle this by yourself."  
  
"I was just playing with him, Lust." Envy said in a playful tone. "He's cute when he's confused."  
  
Fear was the only thing that could silence Ed, which precisely was what's going on at this point. What did they want with me again? Ed tried to pull his thoughts into cohesion. Something about traveling together?  
  
A familiar salty taste returned to him, and blood trickled down his chin. The wound on his abdomen cried, and he noticed a spot of red soaking through his white robe. Now is not the time for this, I have to think! But even that became difficult as the room started to wobble before him. The last five minutes caught up to him like a freight train, hitting him in a single moment. Think...  
  
"See, I told you I had it covered!" Envy said happily when Edward's consciousness slipped away, his body going slack against Envy's hold.  
  
--------------  
  
"How long are you going to play with his hair?"  
  
"Until he wakes up."  
  
"That's really not going to stop you, Envy."  
  
Lust sat with her legs crossed, comfortably poised as usual, looking fully amused at Envy as he toyed with Ed's bangs on the other side of the compact carriage cabin. The boy laid across the seat, his head resting on Envy's lap. Even without Envy's help, Ed's hair already bounced invitingly from the rough carriage ride, tiding over any resistance (if any) Envy had from playing with it himself.  
  
Ed issued a grunt as he awoke, his eyebrows cringing at the last moments of an unsettling dream. Almost immediately after he opened his eyes, a wisp of his hair came dangerously close to them. Ed quickly closed his eyes, and brought his good arm up defensively.  
  
Lust simply laughed at her prediction come true. Upon hearing her voice, Ed turned his head and looked at Lust, at once realizing what had happened before he lost consciousness.  
  
"Hold still, Ed." Envy demanded playfully, still batting at Ed's hair. "You're taking all the fun out of it."  
  
Ed turned his attention to Envy, and stared wide-eyed at the short distance between Envy's and his own face. He rolled his eyes sideways to see that even Lust had leaned in to get a better look at Ed's expression. At this point, Ed felt very small.  
  
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A GRAIN OF RICE THAT NEEDS A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SEE?!" Ed screamed, defaulting the reaction he gives whenever someone made a comment about his size.  
  
Envy stared blankly at Ed for several seconds, and then burst into laughter so intense that he had to lean back and clutch his stomach.  
  
Although still furious at being insulted, Ed took this opportunity to survey his surrounding. Two doors, one on either side of the carriage. The woman with the disturbing smile had her legs cross between himself and one of them, while Envy was leaning against the other as he laughed. The restrictive dimension of the cabin was another factor against Ed, who probably couldn't move fast enough against the two of them.  
  
Should you ever be outnumbered, stall... you should have no problem with your big mouth, Edward.  
  
Roy's offhand advice—which irritated Ed on the day it was issued—seemed like a good route to go at the moment. "So..." Ed grumbled, making clear his foul mood. "Where are we going?"  
  
"You're being escorted to your mechanic to fix your arm." Lust's smile sent chills through Ed's body. "We wouldn't want something to happen to you while you waited."  
  
Ed cringed, not certain who these people are, but can see the threat they posed, plain as day. The unsuspecting people of his hometown...  
  
"My mechanic is already on her way to East City!" Ed got up, unable to contain his panic. "You're going the wrong way!"  
  
"We've already taken care of that problem." Lust leaned forwards. "She's back at her home, expecting you to arrive. The military are made of a few good men and a lot of idiots. We can't have you like a sitting duck among them while you waited there, can we?" The carriage stopped. "This is my stop. I'll leave Envy to look after you. I've got other business to attend..." Lust opened the door closest to her and stepped off. "I suggest you stay close to Envy, Fullmetal one. You wouldn't want to run into Scar in your condition."  
  
"Scar..." Ed trailed off, with so many thoughts going through his head that he barely registered the carriage door closing and the carriage going forwards again. He had considered the possibility of Scar attacking him, but only as an outside one at best. After all, he was after every single National Alchemist, was he not? Why would he go through the trouble of attacking him while he was sitting in the middle of a hospital stuffed to the gills with guards when there were much more convenient targets?  
  
However, Ed looked nervously over to Envy, the timely arrival the last time we met at the abandoned prison tells me they've got their act together. Certainly they wouldn't be abducting me from a hospital unless they know Scar was really a threat...but...  
  
"Why are you protecting me anyway?" Ed asked seriously.  
  
Envy grinned, pressing into Ed's space like he owned it. "Because I like you, Ed!"  
  
Ed's serious expression cracked, staring at Envy, slack jawed and eyes in comical confusion. "Ahhh?!" -----------------  
  
"How do you plan on waltzing into my hometown like that and not draw unwanted attention." Ed grumbled, sitting on a bed at an inn several miles away from his hometown. Envy, meanwhile, was reading something from a notebook he took out of a worn duffel—the only piece of luggage he had. "Not to mention I'm still in the hospital garb. How do I explain that?!"  
  
"I've got some of your clothes in here already." Envy replied without looking up from the notebook. "As for what I look like, I could just tell them I'm your army buddy, Roy Mustang."  
  
"That's never going to work." Ed shook his head disapprovingly. "Auntie Pinako and Winry both know what he looks like, so you..." He trailed off, eyes wide at Roy Mustang himself standing before him.  
  
"How about this?" Roy said. "Do I look like him?"  
  
"Eh...EHHHHH?!"  
  
"I guess, I forgot to tell you this is one of my abilities." Envy said, still in Roy's form and in the Colonel's voice. "Why are you looking at me like that, Ed-chan? Is it true what they say, then?" He tilted Ed's head upwards. "You and the Colonel are a couple?"  
  
Ed, caught off guard by Envy's transformation and the point blank question, remained silent for a moment, but then batted Envy's hand away, angry he was being taken by such childish tactics. "Who said we were a couple?! You shouldn't even be calling us buddies." Ed crawled under the covers. "Good night."  
  
How dare that stupid Envy say something like that?! The rolled over, turning away from Envy. That egotistical maniac! Where would he even... Everything in Ed's brain shut down milliseconds after he realized Envy (back in his original form now) was getting into the other side of the bed casually. Without saying anything, Envy closed his eyes and started to sleep.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Ed shouted, waking Envy and probably the occupants of the two adjacent rooms.  
  
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Envy opened one eye lazily. "Sleeping."  
  
"If you're sleeping here, then I'm sleeping on the floor!" Ed started to get out of bed, grabbing a pillow defiantly. "Because there is simply no way that I would..."  
  
"Get back down, stupid." Envy pulled Ed's arm. Without his right arm to support him, he fell back onto the bed, landing even closer to Envy. "You're the wounded one, so you have to sleep on the bed."  
  
Ed fumed, there was simply no reasoning with this one. "Then you get your butt off the bed and onto the floor!"  
  
"Can't. I don't like sleeping on floors." Envy smiled. "Besides, this isn't so bad, is it?" Envy pulled Ed against his body, one hand cradling Ed's head against his chest while the other found its way onto Ed's back, beneath the hospital gown. "How long has it been since someone held you like this?"  
  
Half of Ed's brain protested madly, screaming for Envy's head to be paraded around the streets atop a stick, but something else allowed Envy to continue. "You're lucky I'm just too tired right now..." Ed mumbled, drifting slowly to sleep as he spoke. "...kill you in the morning..."  
  
--------------  
  
Ed groaned, someone had turned the heat up to unbearable levels. Before opening his eyes, he wiped the sweat off his brow, mentally asking himself if it was worth getting up to open the window in the hospital room.  
  
Seconds later he remembered he was no longer in the care of the military hospital, and was, instead, in the custody of that maniac, Envy. Even more disturbing, was that the last thing he remembered before falling asleep was being in his arms....  
  
Ed instinctively shoved whatever was lying next to him—which happened to be a pillow—then opened his eyes, hoping Envy was as far away as possible. No snide remark about his unprovoked violence against pillows licked at his quick temper. Envy was not in the bed, on the floor, nor in the room at all. Though he wouldn't like to admit it, Ed felt somewhat ambivalent to Envy's absence. Sure, he was a shape shifting and unbalanced weirdo, but the pang of being sick and alone made him wish for some company.  
  
"Envy?" Ed called in a small voice. No answer. He got up and made his way towards the only other connected room, the bathroom. "Envy?" He called out again, louder this time, amplifying the hoarse quality of his voice. Ed paused and rubbed his throat, but then continued towards the bathroom. No signs of Envy being there, either.  
  
Ed coughed, his throat was extremely sore, and he was still sweating like mad. "Crap, the medicine..." He made his way back to the old, rickety chair in the main room. Ed was on an anti-biotics regimen at the hospital, to ward off infection of his wound. Being off it for... how long had he been away?... well, clearly he was developing a fever.  
  
A quick glance around the room was all it took for Ed to conclude that there was no drinkable water in the room. Having read an article in the military library about the hazards of certain tap water, he decided against curing his thirst in that way.  
  
After exiting the motel room, he headed towards door marked "stairs" at the end of the hallway.  
  
"Maybe if I feel better after getting some water, I could try giving that Envy the slip." Ed whispered to himself. Slowly he made his way down the stairs, clinging onto the railing with his good arm as his legs are a little wobbly at the moment. "Maybe... I'll be lucky if I can climb back up these stairs." Ed was wheezing by the time he reached the bottom floor, two flights down.  
  
The clock hung near the now-closed front desk showed it was nearly 3 in the morning. There was no one else in the lobby; good thing for Ed, since he was still in his hospital issue gown stained with his own blood. It would be difficult to explain, and at this moment in time, all he wanted was some water.  
  
"Ya DA!" Ed saw a kettle with some glasses set out next to the receptionist desk. He headed for the kettle with a bit of newfound energy. Halfway there, though, he was interrupted by a familiar voice.  
  
"Hagane no Renkinjitsushi, Edward Elric!"  
  
There was no mistaking it. Ed turned to his left and saw Scar standing in the open doorway, staring intensely at him through those crimson shades.  
  
"Scar?!" For several seconds, the boy stood frozen on the spot, with Scar heading towards him. Finally putting the panic into good use, Ed burst towards the stairs, but Scar quickly caught up to him, grabbing Ed's right arm and flinging the alchemist into one of the lobby armchairs.  
  
Scar was closing in on him, and that not-so-friendly right arm of his extended towards Ed's head.  
  
Is this it? I'm going to die now?  
  
Ed winced when Scar's hand reached his head.  
  
"Time to meet your god, Hagane no chibi."  
  
"Hagane...n...Chi...bi?" Ed stared at the expression now on Scar's face. It was an odd smile, completely out of character as far as Ed knew of the serial killer. Anger, relief, and the urge to kill a certain boy named Envy flooded Ed's brain and he knocked the hand away. "Envy!"  
  
"100 percent correct!" A poof of smoke later, Envy stood in Scar's place, smiling smugly. "I had you going for a while, though."  
  
"You stupid idiot!" Ed screamed to the limits of his hoarse voice. "Why were you gone in the first place?! Where you just waiting for me to leave the room and spring this stupid joke on..." Ed stopped talking when a small white paper bag landed on his lap, bearing a label Ed recognized as from a pharmacy. "This..."  
  
"I got that for you, chibi." Envy headed for the kettle and retrieved a cup of tea for Ed. "You were burning up the entire room, and I don't mean in the usual way."  
  
Ed opened up the bag of medicine and pretended he didn't hear Envy, though the blush now powdering his cheeks told Envy otherwise. Ed took the cup from Envy and took the medicine. "Thanks."  
  
"No problem!" Envy grinned. "Let's get back to bed." Envy leaned forwards. "I'll carry you."  
  
"NO NO!" Ed waved his arms between them, flushing even more now. "I'll get back up there on my own just fine."  
  
Envy stayed hovering closely, smiling like a cat, before wrapping his arms around Ed's torso and picking up the national alchemist. "I didn't ask you a question." He slung Ed over his shoulder.  
  
"Let me go!" Ed automatically protested, but he knew he felt much better now than he did when he woke up by himself. It was humiliating, heck yes, but something told him Envy didn't really mean him any harm, which was saying a lot considering the company he's met on this travels with Al these last few years.  
  
"Ooh! I got some bandages from the pharmacy, too." Envy chirped as he carried Ed up the stairway. "Let's change your bandages before we get to bed." Something extra here warned Ed that Envy hand ulterior motives for changing Ed's bandages.  
  
This was going to be a long night. 


End file.
